kthorne@umich.edu
This is a large quilt, about 56 X 56. It hangs on my sewing room wall. 2004
There are more quilts to view, see sidebar for categories.
I have always loved the older indigo/white quilts. I’ve been saving some nice navies for some time, and recently was able to use them in a class taught by David Owen Hastings. Although I did not finish a project from that class, seeing my dining room table runner reminded me again of my love for the navy and white combo. I made this about 8 years ago. The octagons are a fun pattern. They would be nice for a baby quilt pattern also. The background fabric is toile.
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On the table with a Chinese bowl:
Blocks and segments of these two pieces were left over from a previous project. Their similarities and origins led to me naming them “cousins”. Both feature some circular quilting.
Cousin K is 25 X 37″
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Cousin J is 24 X 26″
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All silk.
This piece is composed of some of my hand-dyed fabrics. I wanted to showcase the wonderful watery effects of the background. I added some little squares for interest and texture. The quilting features wavy lines and bubbles. 30 X 15″
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This pattern was shared on Facebook by Mary Bajcz, it is called Road to Paris. The little black and white triangles around the center squares were cut freehand and thus are not all equal (but pretty close) in size and shape. It was fun showcasing some of my light bright fabrics, played off against black and white. Size is 34 inches square.
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This one is a fun free-cut design from Sujata Shah. I used prints, stripes, and solids. Quilted simply. The size is 46 x 46″. I called it Grasp because the diagonals felt like forearms reaching. Reaching out for a handshake instead of a COVID elbow bump!
How it looks on the wall.
A Blast from the Past
A while ago I belonged to a quilting group called Adventurous Quilters. We sometimes had a challenge theme for individual projects. One of the themes was “Doors”. I decided to depict my open closet door. It features hanging clothes, a hanging shoe rack, upper self with clothes, a vacuum cleaner, a laundry basket, and clothes on the floor. I edged all 4 sides of the piece with some of my collection of clothing labels. This was 1999. It is interesting to look at the labels now, and see how few of them still exist: Liz Claiborne, Vogue, and Oshkosh. The rest are gone, as far as I know! The size is 17″ x 26″. It hangs in my closet. (The name is a phrase I heard many times, directed at my habit of leaving the doors open.)
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Here’s one that I did quite a while ago. Kaffe Fassett, quilt and fabric designer, made this pattern popular in his classes. I had the opportunity to show this version to him when he spoke in Ann Arbor to an enthusiastic large group of quilters, about 15 years ago. His only comment: “I like the fig fabric.” !
I was once told that if you are not sure about using reds, just use many different hues of red together and it will work. Candy apple red, pink, burgundy, tomato red. I did that here and added purples and oranges. Oh my. After I had all the pinwheeels together, I wanted to add some more movement to the design, so on came the circles. The finished piece is 34 x 34″. Commercial printed fabric.
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A Kawandi is a utility quilt made by the African Diaspora/Siddi community of India. The women gather scraps of all sorts, often leftovers from saris. They use a light weight cloth for the backing, and there is no batting. No need for extra warmth in India! The scraps are sewn by hand to the backing, starting at the outside and working in to the center. The women use strong white thread such as a crochet thread, which is what I used on my Siddi quilt. The quilts are used as bedding and floor cloths. Members of the Greater Ann Arbor Quilt Guild learned about this style of quilt from Mary Hogan, who has made a number of her own in this style and who taught a class about Siddi quilts.
Here is my version. It is somewhat “planned” as to color and placement, but also meant to look rather random and free. It was fun to do, although a bit hard on the hands and fingers to do the hand stitching. It is 15 x 22 inches.
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